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[digital-communitiess]

SOCIAL MEDIA AND CHINA

China is becoming one of he most technological advanced countries in the world with up and developing social media and technology. It has been stated that the Great Firewall censorship system has enforced multiple laws in order to create a surveillance system for the Chinese citizens. This includes the Chinese government blocking certain websites if they are being viewed as unsafe.

The Great Firewall of China began in 2003 and is the combination of “legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People’s Republic of China to regulate the internet domestically. The great fire plays a major role in blocking access to certain social media platforms and block foreign tools. Whilst it blocks a fair amount of world wide communication China has many applications and resources to enhance communication and many social media tools as well such as the following apps.

The great firewall is operated under the “Golden shield project” by the Bureau of public information and network security supervision. China passed a law in 1997 that criminalises “cyber crimes”. I believe this law has supported China and helps to monitor mis use of the internet. The was also the beginning of the reasoning for the firewall to be developed. China believes it helps regulate content that is being produced to and from other countries.

[digital-communitiess]

SOCIAL GAMBLING- PLAYING THE CROWD

Gaming and gambling have become huge recently. With the rise of social media has shown a huge rise in gaming and communication through gaming. Gaming has been around well before the release of social media through outdoor games and other forms of gaming. It has developed into a large nd popular category on social media. Many games allow for you to connect with others and communicate through chat rooms live ‘parties’.

There are three dimensions of video games which include sociological dimension, Aesthetic dimension and technical dimension. Whilst these dimensions exist there are also multiple types of plays that can be used in gaming. These include agon (competition) games, Alea (chance) games, mimicry (stimulation) games and illinx (vertigo) games. Agon games are competitive games which use training, skill and discipline. Some of these games include plants vs zombies and other online sporting games that involve completion. Alea games are where winning is based on chance and luck rather then skill. These include gambling games. Mimicry games are where you may ‘become your virtual character’ for example the game world of Warcraft. And lastly ilinix games which are based on the creation of physical vertigo such as angry birds.

There has been a recent study in 2015 that showed the surprising result that the average age for gamers was 33. Most of us have younger siblings that are obsessed with games like fortnight making us believe the average age of gamers should be must younger. This result shows that gaming isn’t just for young people but also can be played by the older generations as well. This number may also be high as there are a lo of games that are R18+ so the younger generations should not have access to them.

[digital-communitiess]

Public health campaigns and communities

A health campaign is a type of media campaign which attempts to promote public health by making new health interventions available. Social media is constantly being turned to by the health industry as a huge form of support to spread important information and facts to the public in order to improve both person and different communities health practices. We are generally brought up by hearing about different messages such as quitline for the prevention of smoking and also in our schooling years we have most likely heard of slip slop slap, a program used to promote being sun smart. Different promotion programs have used strategies that vary from community development, advocacy, policy and school-based health education as well. It’s there to help support, give awareness and prevent certain health issues. The utilization of social media platforms by the government and the public has allowed audiences to engage, share feedback and give support where needed.

Social media in recent times has increasingly played a major part in public health. People use social media to share opinions, seek information, and share stories about their experiences. Social Media opens up a lot of opportunities for different healthcare systems as well such as Medicare. It allows these types of organisations to build a vast amount of connections, share different discoveries and develop credibility. Other industries tend to care about the amount of likes and followers they gain while health care via social media focuses more on the impact created, as it basically is about building trust. By engaging and interacting plus involving different individuals on social media sites, healthcare organisations are able to eliminate the barriers that were created by lack of communication.

Empathy is what allows people to connect, to understand and share feelings for one another. The ability to put oneself in someone else’s shoes is a trait humans share, to understand someone’s pain and misfortune allows a person to feel sympathy which can then lead to a selfless act. These selfless act can draw people to a common goal and something to strive for. Health campaigns are held everywhere everyday, these communities are driven by one common objective to try and remedy a problem that is having a significant impact on lives in a negative way.

Social Media platforms such as Facebook can have groups and/or pages dedicated to a certain epidemic for those who may have been affected by illness. These can include the advice, encouragement and information that helps, educates and/or supports people affected.

THE ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE:

• Video challenge that circulated social media in late 2014.

• Started by the ALS Association, a US non profit organisation. • ALS aimed to raise awareness + funds for ALS - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis aka Lou Gehrig’s disease , a neurological disease.

• The challenge involves participants to video themselves or another person pouring a bucket of ice water over their head, then nominating/tagging other friends to do it.

• The challenge suggests that those nominated have 24 hours to pour ice water over their head or instead donate to a charitable foundation.

• Approximately over 2.4 million tagged videos on Facebook during the ice bucket challenge era.

• Raised over $100 million over a 30 day period to fund research projects

• Celebrities such as Mark Zuckerburg, Anna Wintour, Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr participated to the Ice Bucket Challenge videos.

• The ALS Association’s research budget tripled - is now the highest non profit research funder w the exception of the U.S government.

• Funded research that identified 5 new genes associated with the ALS disease, which can eventually lead to new forms of treatment.

MOMVEMBER:

• Charity dedicated to men’s health issues founded in Melbourne in 2003 (global charity)

• Issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention

• Encourages men to grow a moustache neurally in the month of November to raise awareness about men’s mental health issues- discourse about the campaign is started when participants are asked why they are growing out their moustache

• Over 5.5 million participants

POSITIVES:

o Social media is a great tool to spread awareness about fundraising opportunities surrounding both small or large companies. It allows for companies and business to advocate a message to a large audience. Most people have access to a form of social media making it very easy to view campaigns surrounding mental illness and other illness, such as the pink ribbon for breast cancer or movember.

o Social media can also be used as a tool to raise money for great causes and fundraising. Often people may set up go fund me pages for loved ones that have been affected by an illness to raise money to fund for all kinds of different causes.

o Social media is great to get a public message or idea across. For example Slip,slop slap or beanies for brain cancer which use social media to help spread the message and raise money for different causes.

o Campaigns for mental illness and other sickness use social media to raise awareness through advertising.

o Another positive is that there is now a discourse around Illnesses that are stigmatised.

o A recent study shows that “Social media and technology are playing a greater role than ever in the information sharing necessary to build health care capacity globally.”

o Another positive is the many online education courses. Having access to technology allows for great campaigns and sites to access to education many people about the public health system.

o There are many different forums and groups created for those to use that may have been affected by illness or have a loved one affected. Having these groups is a huge positive as it provides support for those who may need it and also may educate others.

NEGATIVES:

o Digital media can: exploit the resources of patients themselves (Hejlesen et al. 2001)- Patients are likely to google their illness and believe it it something much worse then it is. For example a common cold could be misinterpreted as the swine flu.

o People are more likely to google symptoms and self diagnose themselves. A recent study shows that “83% of internet users seek health information online, which makes it the third most popular internet search.” This can become a negative as people often mis diagnose themselves.

o These social media platforms can sometime be used in a negative way as bullying can be a major issue where people may make fun of others for a certain illness and think its okay or funny. People may also spread false information about others or different types of illness’s.

REFERENCES:

• Woolf, N, 2016, ‘Remember the ice bucket challenge? It just funded an ALS breakthrough’, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/26/ice-bucket-challenge-als-charity-gene-discovery

• ALS Association, 2019, ‘Progress since the ice bucket challenge’, ALS Association, http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/edau/ibc-progress-infographic.html

• Evariant.com. (2019). The Evolving Role of Social Media in Healthcare: Benefits & Tactics | Evariant. [online] Available at: https://www.evariant.com/blog/the-evolving-role-of-social-media-in-healthcare

• Howard, A, 2019, ’10 Effective Public Health Social Media Campaigns’, Strategic Social Media Lab, https://strategicsocialmedialab.com/10-effective-public-health-social-me

[digital-communitiess]

CROWDSOURCING IN TIMES OF CRISIS

We often might think of crowdsourcing as “a new way to connect with like minded other through social media networks to achieve a common goal.” This has recent become huge with the increase of social media which makes communicating and meeting others extremely easy. Crowdsourcing has been around for a while where people meet others that share the same interests but has taken a recent growth through social media.

In times of crisis crowdsourcing can be a huge help as through crisis we can use social media as a tool to connect with others and the community to help one another. For examples in natural disaster social media can use crowdsourcing to help bring together. This allows for people to share there stories and may help other people who are grieving the same incident.

There are also multiple apps and online sources that can help in times of crisis. For example there is a app for bushfires in Australia which allows you to track bushfires in your area and alert you when you should leave. It will alert you immediately if there is an emergency and helps a lot with precaution. I think social media has a positive influence in times of crisis as there are many support pages and groups to help one going though hard times.

This is also seen with the ‘Amber alerts’ that are used in America where there is a message that is sent out to every smart phone in a particular area when there is a crime or something to look out for. I think this is a clever way to notify a large group of people especially because most people own a smartphone so are likely to get the notification.

Facebook also has a safety section now relating to major incidents. For example after an earthquake you can click on facebook that you are safe so friends and family are made aware. This is very clever of facebook and I believe it is vital we keep using social media to benefit our society.

[digital-communitiess]

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: TROLLING AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONFLICT

Trolling has been a major part of the social media world for as long as social media has been around. People will be mean and nasty wherever they go and unfortunately there have been a lot of cases of cyber bullying and trolling. Trolling is definitely the downside to social media as people feel as if they can hide behind a screen and say mean things because no one can see them. These people that type and send mean messages are often referred to as ‘keyboard warriors’.

There has been a lot of research down on harassment online and according to recent data, 70 percent of 18-24 year olds reported that they had witnessed online harassment and 40 percent reported that they had experienced a form of online harassment which included the following: being called offensive names, purposefully embarrassed, physically threatened, sexually harassed or stalked. All of these things are horrible and is a sad part of the social media reality.

Cyber bullying can often be taken too far and in certain cases can lead to individuals hurting the self which is a horrible outcome and not at all what social media was intended for. Social media should be a place of communication and interaction where people can share memories with loved ones and friends. Cyber bullying and trolling should not be what social media is for.

There are also many services available now to help people that may be struggling. These services include kids helplines and in extreme cases 000. There is also a great saying that is ‘don’t feed the trolls’ which in short means do not feed them anything to make them angry or bully more. If you simply report them and do not answer they have nothing else to say or do so may potentially leave you alone.

There are many ways online conflict should be dealt with. Finding the source is important as they may learn a lesson if the person behind the keyboard can be tracked. The best thing to do with online trolls and bullies is to block any communication that you may have with them. Trolling can be horrible on social media so we should encourage every one to be nice and to use social media for the right reasons rather then the wrong ones.

[digital-communitiess]

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: ACTIVISM AND PROTEST

Activism and protest is a huge part of recent social media with many protests happening recently around the area we live. Activism is defined as “any form of ‘acting up’- including political engagement through irony, humour or popular appeal (memes etc).” With so many forms of technology and access to social media, activism has become huge with such easy access to form groups and to let people know about protests.

There has been a recent protest in the media that people have many different opinions ad views about. It was a vegan protest where 39 people were arrested for protesting on one of Melbourne’s biggest roads whilst blocking traffic during peak hour. These people chains themselves to vehicles in order to send a message.

So why do people protest? People use protesting as a way of expressing an opinion or in order to send a message. People believe that protesting their beliefs will help other people realise what is wrong and in order to change their perspective on a certain topic

Networked public’s play a major role in activism and protest as they are communities of individuals. As well as public activism there is also a form of digital activism where this may occur online. There has been a huge rise in social protests that may have a similar effect to real life protests. With the amount of internet users, there are so many access points for people to view these protests. There have been so many movements that have been created purely through social media such as #blacklivesmatter and #MeToo. These two especially have created a huge movement socially and we have since seen so much action.

Culture Jamming is a slang word for ‘jamming’ in which one disrupts “exisiting transmissions”. This may imply a prank, sabotage or hoax. With social media becoming so huge the possibilities for activism and protest have become so large. Anyone can create a movement and help incorporate change. There are many pages individuals have created to hopefully make a change and I believe this is just the beginning for social media and activism. With a good balance of both I hope we can use these tools to create a better planet and future for everyone.

[digital-communitiess]

POLITICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The government uses social media to connect and reach out to many individuals through many different forms and websites. Social media has risen dramatically where most individuals use these platforms. Most politicians run their own Twitter, facebook or other social media site that they can use to advertise or contact there audience. I’m not too well known with politicians but I do know that there is a huge range of politicians using social media as their primary contact to their audiences. Social media is used for elections as well as general communicating.

A 2015 election in USA showed that “nearly 60% of Corbyn supporters use social media as their main source of news”. (2016 Phillips). This explores how vital social media is in relation to politics. I believe this is a key part of an election as most people use social media and are more likely to view news or posts relating to politics.

Memes have become something that are extremely popular and are used in many different ways and in different context. In relation to Politics, memes are now used heavily in politics especially regarding people such as Donald Trump. Memes are used to express an opinion and also used to make fun of people or things.

Politicians use social media to communicate information to large groups at the one time. It is one of the easiest forms of communication and has been successful so far within the government and politics. Digital citizenship is the potential to benefit society as a whole and ‘facilitate the membership and participation of individuals within society’.

[digital-communitiess]

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL COMMUNTIES

BLOGGING:

Blogging is a type of social media that has been operating for many years now and has developed greatly. Sites such as word press, blogger and tumblr are just a few of the major blogging sites that are available. The first blogging platform was links.net which was created by Justin Hall in 1994 and it has boomed ever since. The world of blogging is huge, even seeing social media platforms such as instagram turning into a platform that enables accounts to keep a constant blog by uploading photos ands videos to a range of followers. Blogging comes in many forms such as food blogs, fashion blogs, mummy blogs and so many other types.

AFFORDANCES:

This is when something is created for a particular reason and then used for a different reason. For example this image. It shows the same item (cylinder) being used 3 different ways.

In relation to digital communities, this is where a social media platform or anything digital may be invented to have a sole purpose such as uploading images, blogging or communicating with others and then may be used for wrong or in a complete different way. An example of this in the digital world is the use of Snapchat. This platform was designed for users to share photos of what they are up to to friends. Instead Snapchat may be used incorrect to send inappropriate images around.

IS TUMBLR A BLOG OR SOCIAL MEDIA SITE:

In my opinion I view tumblr as both a blog and a social media site. Social media allows people to interact with one another and communicate opinions and share photos to other people. This is exactly what tumblr does. Each user can share images, GIFS, quotes and posts of writing. This technically classifies Tumblr as a social media site as it enables users to interact. Whilst I agree that it is a social media site I also believe it is a blog as well. Users are enabled to post images and paragraphs of witting to keep there followers up to date with their lifer interests hence proving that it is a blogging website. I strongly believe the answer to this question is that it is both a blog and a social media site.

SOCIALITY:

Sociality represents “our forms of social organisation, and ways of being together.” This for example shows how different social settings may occur such as social drinking, social smoking or social burglary. Being social or update to date with trends is a huge art of this digital work so it is important to understand this concept. Sociologists often think of community as “a form of social organisation based on small groups, such as neighbourhoods, the small town or a spatially bounded locality.”

PLATFORM POLITICS:

Tarletan Gillespie states that there are four distinct categories of the word ‘platform’ that allows for us to understand what a software platform does. These four categories include Computational, Architectural, figurative and political. Social Media is viewed as a platform in many ways.